Hayes wants her side to ‘just be Chelsea’ as The Blues look to secure another league title | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says that she just wants her side to be themselves when they face Manchester United at Old Trafford this afternoon.

The Blues can secure their fifth consecutive Barclays Women’s Super League title if they at least equal Manchester City’s result against Aston Villa and providing that The Cityzens don’t overturn a two-goal inferior goal difference.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Chelsea manager Hayes insisted that there’s no pressure hanging over her side, particularly given the fact that it is her last game in charge. She expects her side to play with freedom and deliver a performance of Chelsea standard.

“I promise you that they’ll play with freedom,” Hayes said. “There are no pressures, there’s merely joy and privilege and their manager is so proud for everything they’ve done. I want to look forward and make sure that it’s a day that we can just be Chelsea.”

Going on to discuss the question of pressure further, Hayes said that the previous experience of winning titles eliminates any pressure on her side. Should Chelsea be unsuccessful this afternoon, she also feels that a trophy-less campaign wouldn’t impact her personal legacy at the club.

She said “We are accustomed to being in this position, everyone knows what’s at stake. We’ve had a lot of winning, so I don’t really think the pressure is on us.

“Of course, I want to leave with another title but it definitely won’t define my tenure here. The most important thing for me and the players is that we continue to sit together and we continue to demonstrate why we’ve always had the resilience to be at the top end come the business end of the season.”

Chelsea’s opponents Manchester United will celebrate their Adobe Women’s FA Cup final success at Old Trafford this afternoon. Despite winning a first major domestic trophy, Manchester United boss Marc Skinner continues to attract criticism and Hayes feels that this is very unfair.

“They’re deserving of winning the FA Cup,” Hayes said. “To knock out the holders and put on the performance that they did against Tottenham, I’m really happy for Marc.

“I think Marc has demonstrated that he has learnt each year what you need to do to win trophies. I think his fanbase are really tough on him if I’m being honest, he’s brought the first piece of silverware to that football club and he got booed, managers deserve a bit more than that.

“I’m proud of Marc for how he has dug in to keep driving Manchester United to where they are. I know he’ll want a packed crowd at Old Trafford, it’s something that he has been driving and he knows how passionate that fanbase is.

“They won’t want to watch someone lift a title on their patch, they wont want to do that. They’ll want to demonstrate why the FA Cup is just the beginning for them, so it’ll be an incredibly tough game.”

Chelsea’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Manchester United kicks-off at 3pm this afternoon.